Her Name is Rio
by Gwendolyn Inman
Summary: She is a water dragon slayer that had been living, and aging, under the sea for 17 years. Unlike the rest of the slayers, when her dragon disappeared, she had been left alone in the underwater cavern she had grown up in. It isn't until an accident breaches her cave, causing the only home she has ever known to begin the collapse, that she dares to enter a world she can't even fathom
1. Her Name is Rio

**She is a water dragon slayer that had been living, and aging, under the sea for 17 years. She is as old as Sting and Rogue, but unlike the rest of the slayers, when her dragon disappeared, she had been left alone in the underwater cave she had grown up in. It isn't until an accident breaches her cave, causing the only home she has ever known to begin the collapse, that she dares to venture into a world she couldn't even fathom.**

 **A/N: Hey guys, Gwen here! Just wanted to welcome you to the story, which I hope you will enjoy!**

"Natsu look! There's someone out there!" Lucy exclaimed, pointing out to the ocean. Natsu had just pummeled a weird slug monster into the ground, causing a deeper than normal crater in the ground nearby.

"Huh, where'd they come from?" Natsu said, looking out to where Lucy was pointing. Sure enough, floating about forty feet away from shore was a person. From the shore, they looked to have ghostly pale skin and dark, maybe purple, hair. One thing that Lucy hadn't noticed initially, however, was that, without disturbing the water at all, the figure seemed to be getting closer.

As they approached, and subsequently rose from the water, the Fairy Tail mages realized that the figure was distinctly female. She was wearing an incredibly long white skirt and the only thing covering her ample bosom was her long violet hair. Natsu looked away after a brief stare. Lucy's jaw hung open as the girl, or more aptly, woman, rose from the surf and stood on the rocky shore. The girl approached them, apparently unconcerned with her lack of clothes.

"Um, Hello. Do you want something?" Lucy asked. The girl looked at Lucy and gave her a look that was very familiar.

"Tsk, not with you," the new woman said towards the celestial mage. She turned from Lucy and looked at the vaguely pink-faced Natsu. In the blink of an eye she was lifting him up by the scarf, her grey eyes darkening. "You destroyed my home!" Natsu looked confused.

"What home, all I destroyed was that slug monster." he replied, obviously not understanding what the angry top less lady was talking about.

"Your reckless use of slayer magic caused my cavern to collapse! Now where am I supposed to wait for Marianna to return! She told me that she would always come home, but now home is gone and so is she and and..." She shouted at the fire mage, losing steam towards the end. She dropped him, as if suddenly realizing that something much worse than losing her home had happened. She turned away. Lucy noticed that this girl was obviously not ok.

"Hey, hey. What's your name?" They blonde asked. The girl didn't turn back to look at Lucy.

"Rio..." the new girl replied.

"Alright, and you lived underwater? With this person named Marianna?" Lucy prompted. Rio looked back at Lucy and shook her head.

"Marianna isn't a person, she is a Dragon," Natsu's eyes grew wide "They Sea dragon, to be precise. She can fly and swim and she raised me in a cavern that was-" she glared at Natsu "directly below this location," Rio finished.

"Did she disappear on July 7th 777?" Natsu blurted out. The girl shrugged.

"I'm not sure. She often would leave for days or weeks at a time to get me stuff like books or clothes, but this last time was different. Weeks bled into months bled into years bled into twelve. She told me she would always come back, I just had to be patient, but now I'm not so sure," she said sadly.

"So you have been alone all this time?" Lucy asked, reaching out to touch the girl, who only leaned back to avoid it. Rio gave Lucy a small smile.

"Well, no..." The girl said, looking down again. "A little after Marianna left, this giant egg fell into the water. I was afraid the pressure would cause it to crack, so I swam out and caught it before it could go too deep. A little while later this-" she reached into a previously unseen slit in her skirt and pulled out a pink cat in a cute white dress made out of the same material of Rio's skirt "hatched out of the egg! I call her Nila!" Rio said. Suddenly Happy, who had been uncharacteristically quiet, piped up.

"If you were raised by a Dragon, and you have an Exceed, then you must have dragon slayer magic!" the blue cat said. Natsu nodded and looked down at his friend

"Well, if she is a dragon slayer, than she has got to be pretty tough,"

"If would say so, considering I had nothing to do down in the caverns other than train," Rio tossed in. Lucy looked between Natsu and Rio and knew what was about to happen.

"OK then. If you are so tough, I guess that means we have to fight!" The pink hair boy shouted, fists lighting on fire. Rio smirked.

"Well I would love to, but I'm really not dressed for it," she said, popping her hip and gesturing to her top less frame. Natsu turned off the fire fist and stepped out of his fighting stance.

"Right, oh and I guess I'm sorry about you cavern," The boy said. Rio shrugged. Lucy let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding.

"It's alright. I think it might have been the wake up call I had needed this whole time,. If it weren't for you, I might have waited for Marianna my whole life," Rio told him.

"Ok, now that Natsu has apologised. We need to figure out our next steps," Lucy said, putting her fist in her hand and looking at the two dragon slayer before her. The both looked at her like she was stupid.

"We take her home to Fairy Tail, of course!" Natsu told his partner as if it was the only logical option. Rio nodded.

"Yes. In stories that Marianna told me, whoever rescues the damsel, me, from her tower, cavern, is then responsible for said damsel," she explained logically. Lucy thought about that reasoning for a second.

"I guess that makes sense. I mean, we destroyed her home, so I guess she is now invited to stay at ours!"

 **A/N: I am not good at ending chapters. I would love it if you guys could review with your thought, feelings, and questions!**


	2. A Local Legend

**A/N: Alright, chapter two! So I have finally solidified the direction of this story, and I can't wait to share it with you! I hope you enjoy!**

"Three dragon slayers?" Rio asked while Natsu was rambling on about how great the guild was. They were walking towards the nearest town, where they could collect their reward and hire a cab to take them back to Magnolia. Lucy had lent her a white bikini top for the trip to Magnolia, and it surprisingly matched her skirt almost perfectly.

"Yeah. There's Metal Head, Wendy and I. I guess Laxus is a dragon slayer too, but like he wasn't raised by a dragon like us, so I don't really count him," Natsu said. Lucy elbowed him in the side for saying that about Laxus, which elicited a snorted laugh from Rio. Lucy had lent her a white bikini top for the trip to Magnolia, and it surprisingly matched her skirt almost perfectly.

"Anyways, enough about us. Tell us about you!" Lucy said, trying to force the conversation to keep moving.

"I already told you pretty much everything. My dragon left and I trained in a cave for twelve years. When I wasn't training, I would go fishing or treasure diving," Rio said, not particularly caring for the blonde's insesent pestering. She would much rather hear about this guild of theirs than talk about how she passed the thousands of hours after her dragon left.

"You know how to fish!" Happy shouted from above, coming down to land on Natsu's head and join the conversation. Now this guy, Rio was glad to talk to.

"Oh yeah. I can catch them with my bare hands," Rio told the Exceed. Happy's eyes became more anime glitter than pupil. Nila nodded.

"Rio can just pluck fish out of the water. It's almost like magic," The pink creature said. Rio laughed again and bopped her pet on the nose.

"That's because it is magic. I change the water current to make the fish stay in one place but feel like it's moving. Then I just snatch it out of the sea," Rio explained to Happy and Natsu. They looked dumb founded. "Well don't just stare, you should have been taking notes!" The girl quipped. Natsu and Happy nodded.

They walked the rest of the way into town with Natsu talking their ear off about all the different jobs he and Lucy had ever done. He was just passed the part where they met Wendy when they arrived at the home of the man who had hired them to kill the slug. Lucy knocked on the door and it was flung open immediately.

"I heard all the ruckus and knew you must have defeated him!" said the tall, gangly, middle aged man, who had answered the door. He held out an envelope that must contain the payment and Lucy took it and tucked it into her bag. The man was about to say something else when he noticed Rio standing behind the Fairy Tail wizards. "You," He said quietly.

Rio looked around and then pointed at herself. "Me?" she answered. He nodded, stepping from his doorway, approaching Rio. When he eventually reached the tall girl, he embraced her. Over his shoulder, she made a face at Natsu that clearly read 'what is going on'. The pink haired boy shrugged.

"You saved my son's life. He fell out of the boat when we were out fishing one day a few years ago, and you saved him. How can I ever repay you?" Rio, still kinda confused, but now remembering the incident the man was speaking of, detached herself from the now crying father.

"Um... Actually. If you or your wife have any more practical clothes I could borrow," she looked back at her now very dirty trailing white skirt, "that would be really nice of you." Rio told the man. He dried his eyes, nodded, and smiled.

"Yes, of course. Come in, all of you, come in," The man said, gesturing for the three wizards to enter his home. The stepped into the spacious living room as the man closed the door behind them. "El! Put the kettle on, we have guests!" He shouted into the house. A woman appeared from a back room into the living space and glared at her husband.

"Kurt! What have I told you about uninvited guests. I swear-" The woman started. Her husband hushed her.

"Elody my love, this girl is the mermaid who saved Zachariah," Kurt told his wife. The once angry woman welled up with tears and ran over to Rio to wrap her in an even tighter hug than Kurt had given her before. Rio, with a bored expression, patted the crying woman on the back.

The rest of the visit went without incident. Zachariah was off visiting his uncle in Crocus, and wouldn't be able to meet his savior. Elody gave Rio a pair of red high waisted shorts and two blue tie front shirts of different shades 'from her younger days'. They all drank tea and when the trio were ready to leave, the couple gave them each a sandwich and an apple for the road. They continued their walk towards town in peaceful silence, and when they reached the first few buildings of town, the sun was hovering only a smidgen over the horizon.

"We should probably get a room," Lucy stated, as if that was not the obvious choice. Rio rolled her eyes.

"For someone who loves to talk, you hardly ever listen," the dragon slayer said. Lucy cocked her hip in defiance. For a girl they had taken under their wing, she sure had a lot of sass.

"And why would you say is that?" the blonde asked. Rio shrugged.

"Because, Kurt said clearly to enter town, take a left at the fountain, walk down that street and look to the left to find The Starlight Inn. Elody said we would be well taken care of there," The purple haired girl stated dryly. Lucy huffed.

They followed Kurt's directions until they stood in front of what looked to be a small restaurant with two floors of rooms above it. The trio entered and a few of the patrons looked over at them. The woman behind the bar put her hand to her mouth in disbelief while elbowing the woman next to her. The wizards walked up to the bar, which also appeared to be the front desk, and Rio started the conversation.

"Hello miss. My friends and I want a room." She said, not wasting any time with pleasantries. The two women stared at her without response. Rio sighed. "Yes, I am the local mermaid, I probably helped you out some time correct? That is all well and good, but that is the past, and I would like a room for me and my colleagues in the present," still no response from the women.

"Kurt and Elody sent us?" Natsu tried. The boy's voice seemed to snap the women out of their stupor. They shut their mouths and refocused.

"Yes. Yes! Oh of course you can can have a room, free of charge!".

And with that they day was over. The three settled into their room, Natsu taking the couch and Lucy and Rio sharing the large bed. The next day, they woke up to a continental breakfast with about half the town, all of whom seemed to have some connection to the purple haired girl that had lived in their shoreline for the last 17 years.

Eventually, they three made it back to the fountain they had passed the night before, which was the center of town, and hired a cab to take them back to Magnolia. The driver said that they would reach the town of the Fairy Tail guild by about one o'clock and the three settled in for the nearly 5 hour ride.

The second the cart started moving, Natsu was out. He was groaning and hanging partly out the cart while Lucy and Rio sat calmly, Lucy reading her book and Rio watching the new world move past her. After about an hour, Lucy finished her book and looked over to Rio, who, while a dragon slayer, had no issues with motion sickness.

"How come you aren't getting motion sick?" Lucy inquired. Rio didn't seem to hear her, so Nila, who was sitting in the dragon slayers lap, poked her master on the cheek with her soft paw. Rio looked over to Lucy.

"I can't hear you! The thing I do for motion sickness clogs my ears!" the purple haired girl practically shouted before going back to staring at the landscape. Nile decided to explain.

"Since motion sickness is actually caused by an inner ear thing, she learned that plugging her ears with water gets rid of most of the negative effects," the punk cat explained. Lucy nodded in understanding and decided not to pry any further. She leaned her head against the side of the cab and dozed off.

"Come on Luce, we are at the guildhall!" Natsu told his sleeping companion. Lucy, still dazed, got out of the cab, paid the driver, and looked up at the guild hall. She looked over at the third member of their party and saw that the taller girl looked almost nervous. With the cab leaving and Lucy and Rio behind him, Natsu pushed open the large doors to the guild hall.

They were finally home.

 **A/N: So I would like to clarify that this is very OC centric, and Natsu and Lucy will not really be in focus for it. When we get closer to the romantic interest's introduction, I will add them to the character list for the fic. For now, it is just the OC and the characters who will be her best friends, Wendy and Juvia.**

 **As always, review if you have questions, compliments, or criticism!**


	3. Her New Home

**A/N: This chapter is kinda short, sorry.**

As always, the guild was busy. There were a few people by the request board, dozens of people sitting at tables and a few people sitting at the bar. Behind the bar, of course, was Mirajane Strauss, the strongest, and prettiest woman in the guild.

"HEY MIRA!" Natsu shouted, strolling up to the bar, "We finished that job out in Boba, and we found a new dragon slayer!" the pink haired boy announced loudly. Suddenly, dozens of pairs of eyes turned first towards Natsu, then towards the tall, statuesque girl standing just a few feet within the guild hall doors. Rio glared, trying to keep up a tough appearance, but her cheeks begun to redden despite herself. She clutched Nila's paw tighter.

"Are you really a dragon slayer?" asked a small girl who had just stepped forward. Her hair was the color of the deep sea and just like Rio, she was holding the paw of an Exceed. Rio nodded at the girl, realizing that she must be Wendy, the sky dragon slayer that Natsu had mentioned.

"Yes, my name is Rio and I use sea dragon slayer magic," Rio told the younger girl simply. The newest dragon slayer didn't want to give away to much about herself to these people she had just met, but she supposed that magic type was an important thing to have out in the open when one tried to join a wizard guild.

"What is this I hear about a new dragon slayer?" a voice said from the upstairs landing. It was a short man with a large mustache and commanding presence. From what Natsu had told her, this had to be the master of the guild, Makarov. Just one look around the room could tell you that the whole lot had respect for the short man, and Rio didn't intend to differ. Rio stepped towards him, head bowed.

"That's would be me sir. My name is Rio, and I was wondering if I might be able to join your guild?" said the new girl bashfully.

"We kinda destroyed her house, and she seems super tough, so I thought bringing her here would be perfect! She gets a new home, and we get a cool new guildmate!" Natsu threw into the conversation. The master smiled.

"Well, that sounds reasonable," and with that, Rio became a member of Fairy Tail.

Mira gave her the stamp on her left shoulder, just like Natsu's, except hers was in a light purple. Rio met all of Natsu and Lucy's best friends. Erza said that she liked Rios attitude, Levy loved that she came up with a motion sickness cure on her own, Grey used the tale of her initial toplessness to defend his stripping, Gajeel challenged her to a fight, Juvia considered her a love rival, and Cana (who in heels was only a hair taller than Rio) said that she would have to buy taller shoes. Over all, they all seemed very welcoming, if a bit too touchy-feely. When it was time to go home, it dawned on Rio that she hadn't even thought about where she would stay.

"Will you come stay with me? That way Nila and Charle can keep talking," Wendy asked, gesturing over to where the two Exceeds were sitting together. Even though she didn't want to impose, for some reason Rio had developed a soft spot for the other female dragon slayer in the few hours she had known her. From what Natsu had said, dragon slaying appeared to be a man's world, and neither Rio nor Wendy wanted to be alone in it.

xxx-xxx-xxx

"And here we are!" Wendy said as Charle took out her key and opened the door to Wendy and her apartment. The two slayers had walked to Fairy Hills in the twilight of Rio's first day in town. Wendy had talked about her life at Cait Shelter the whole way. Rio had been quiet, but Nila was ever questioning. The small exceed wanted to know everything about everyone in the guild. She probably wouldn't stop questioning her new guildmates until she knew the back story of every single one of them. In this way, she was almost the exact opposite of her caretaker, who couldn't care less about the lives of the other wizards.

Well, it wasn't that Rio didn't care, it was just that, in the journey from the seaside town to to Magnolia the shock from losing her home had really sunk in. She had lost her Dragon, her cavern, and all of her worldly possessions. Nila and her magic were all she had left of her life under the sea.

"Rio? Did you hear me?" Wendy said, concerned about the older girl. Rio shook her head, and attempted to shake away the feeling of loss that tugged at her.

"Oh, well. I said that the bathroom is through there," The bluenette said, pointing at a door, " And you can sleep on the couch. We can go out for breakfast tomorrow morning with Erza and she can help you figure out where you fit in the guild ," she finished, retreating into the other room.

Rio took her white skirt out of her bag and went into the bathroom. She began to run a bath and looked at herself in the mirror. She didn't even recognize herself. The girl staring back at her in the mirror had dry, iris purple haired hanging in loose waves around a pale, swallow face. She was wearing a button down and shorts of all things! She had none of the ethereal grace that Rio had believed she had when she lived underwater.

When the bath was full, Rio stripped and submerged herself in the lukewarm water. Finally, surrounded by water, she felt at least a little like herself again. It surrounded her like a hug from a friend and was so relaxing that she drifted off to sleep in it's warm embrace.

 **A/N: Another weak chapter ending, courtesy of me! I think I will probably be updating this on a Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday schedule, so you can expect another update in two days! As always, review or PM me with you questions, compliments, or criticism!**


	4. Salvage Mission

**A/N: This chapter is a long one to make up for the last chapter being so short. Enjoy!**

"Rio, are you in there!" Came Wendy's voice from outside the bathroom, waking up Rio. Rio monetarily forgot where she was and stiffened in the now cold bathwater. Then she remembered the events of the last two days and calmed down.

"Yes, I'll be out in just a minute," Rio said as she stepped from the tub. She used one of the oddly plentiful towels from the shelf to dry herself slightly before taking her long skirt and pulling it on so that it cinched under her arms like a strapless dress. When Rio looked in the mirror she saw that the part of the dress that had been initially dragging on the ground when she emerged from the sea was tattered and dirty. Rio sighed and took some of the water still in the tub and molded it into a sharp edge. She used this water blade to slice off the dress at the knees. Begrudgingly satisfied with her look, she opened the door to see a very worried young girl. Wendy's face moved from worry to relief when she saw that Rio was OK.

"I thought something had happened, like you drowned in the tub or something!" Wendy said before going into the now vacant restroom. This confused Rio. Drowning was not a concept that she would ever be subject to, she is a sea dragon slayer, after all. When the youngest dragon slayer emerged from the bathroom, she was all dressed and ready for the day.

"I can't drown you know, there was no need to worry," Rio told her as she picked up her bag and headed for the door. Wendy laughed.

"Yeah, I guess not. I was just concerned is all. I know what it's like to lose your home," Wendy said, following Rio out of the room. They were supposed to meet Erza put front of the building, but the ran into her in the stairs.

"Hello Wendy, Rio. Are you two ready for the day." The redhead ask. At that moment, Rio's stomach growled.

"We will be, once we get some food in us!" Nila responded for them. Erza nodded.

"I was thinking we could go to my favorite café in Magnolia and talk about the next steps for you. Does that sound good?" Erza asked. Rio shrugged.

"That sounds great Miss Erza!" Nila replied. The five females walked into town, everyone but Rio talking casually. When they got to Erza café, they were seated immediately. Wendy and Erza ordered strawberry and cream waffles, Nila and Charle got tea and cookies, and Rio ordered a bagel with lox.

"What next steps are we talking about?" Rio said, drinking, or maybe inhaling, the water that their waitress had brought out.

"Well, you need to find a place to stay and get some more clothes to start," Erza said, as if that was obviously what one did when they joined Fairy Tail. Rio raised an eyebrow.

"That would be easier if I had any money," she said. Nila looked at her friend.

"Rio, you have lots of money!" the Exceed told her, surprised that she had forgotten. Erza and Wendy looked at Rio for explanation.

"Yeah, but that was all in the cavern, and it would take multiple people capable of breathing under water to move the rumble and get to it. Not to mention that it is a four hour ride back there," Rio explained as if the idea was ridiculous. Erza got a glint in her eye and she slammed a fist to the table.

"Then that is your, or rather our, next step! We will go to retrieve your things from your former home!" the requip mage said. Rio rolled her eyes.

"Erza, that is ridiculous. Unless you know two people capable of moving large rocks and breathing underwater, it's not going to be possible." the sea slayer retorted.

"You are in luck, because I happen to know two people of that exact persuasion." the redhead mused.

xxx-xxx-xxx

They decided to rent a magic-mobile to assure that they would be able to make it to the shore, retrieve Rio's belongings, and make it back to Magnolia before dark. The four girls were taking turns driving and powering the contraption, and Erza estimated that they would probably make it to Rio's former home in two hours if they kept up speed.

After leaving the café, the party had gone back to Fairy Hills to get their traveling gear and ask Juvia to accompany them. She had agreed, on the condition that Rio would not make any advances on her darling Grey. When the dragon slayer had agreed, Juvia was happy to go with them. She said she had planned to wait in the guild hall for Grey to return from the solo mission he has gone on, but he wasn't supposed to be back until tomorrow so she didn't mind leaving as long as she was back by tomorrow morning.

They were about halfway to the town that Rio had stayed in with Natsu and Lucy, and Rio was driving. She had rationalized that she or Wendy should drive the whole way there, as they had near infinite magical energy reserves, but Erza had countered that by saying that she had inherently higher base magical energy, and would be fine with driving for extended periods of time. However, Rio had been driving almost the whole way, as to avoid having to talk to the other women. Nila, of course, was embroiled in a conversation with Erza about the best desserts in Fiore, while Wendy was listening to Juvia talk about her and Grey's most recent 'date'. Just hearing them talk made Rio feel like part of a team, even if she wasn't quite up to participating. Eventually, after two switches in drivers, they made it into the town. They drove right through and took the road past Kurt and Elody's house to the rocky shoreline. The women and Exceeds got out of the car to look at the crater Natsu had made the other day, which was now full of water.

"What is the plan?" Juvia asked the group. Wendy and Rio turned to Erza. Erza smirked.

"Requip, Sea Empress Armor!" the redhead yelled. Rio was in awe as the mage changed from her more casual armor to the green, finned, Sea Empress Armor. "This armor, in conjunction to protecting me from water based magical attacks, will allow me to breath underwater. Wendy, since you can't come with us, would you mind watching the vehicle and organizing the thing we bring up?" Erza asked the smaller mage. Wendy nodded, and with that Erza dove into the crater, followed quickly by Juvia and Rio.

Rio looked around as she swam deeper into to the rubble, following Erza. When she saw an opening that led into the cavern proper, she followed it, hoping that the other women would come after her.

There it was, her home. There was an ornate parlor furniture set that she had rescued from the captain's quarters of a sunken ship in one corner, an oven she had built out of hand made bricks against another wall. She had a nice set of dining chairs that had been in a shipping crate that had fallen off a boat. The matching table to the chairs now sat in the middle on the chairs on the ground, split in half. Other casualties of the collapse included her hutch of tea sets and grandfather clock. She sighed at the decrepit state of her once nice home.

Luckily, even if the water prevention charm had been broken, the lighting charm was still in place, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to see anything. Rio swam deeper, noticing the two other women had entered the main cavern behind her. As she swam towards the entrance to her bedroom, Juvia and Erza went to check to see if some of her team's sets could be salvaged.

Rio's room was covered in huge frescoes of what she thought the outside world looked like, from mountains to castles to small villages. Mostly they were just enlargements from picture books, but one of the wall paintings was wholly unique. It depicted the six dragons Marianna had described to her flying in a circle. Rio was fixated on these images and how wrong many of them had been. She shook her head to return to the present and search her room for what she would like to bring back with her to Magnolia.

She went over to her scrollwork dresser and pulled from it a white halter dress with jeweled collar she had found sinking below a speedboat about a year ago as well as another mermaid skirt, this one in a shimmering gold. She stuffed these items, along with some undergarments, into her backpack. She then went over to the chest at the foot of her bed and opened it to reveal her treasure.

This was real treasure. She had multiple tiaras and sets of gold jewelry. She even had bags full of jewel, actual jewel! It was what the current Fiore currency was based off of. Lucy mentioned on the way to Magnolia that, with the original jewel mines running dry and the country switching to paper currency, the original 'one jewel' was now worth approximately 20,000 modern jewel. Rio swam out to the main cavern and got Erza and Juvia's attention so they could help her haul the treasure chest out of the cave. The two water mages carried the chest while Erza went ahead of them to clear a path to the surface large enough for two girls and a 4x2x2 chest.

When they broke the surface, Rio and Juvia heaved the chest out of the crater for Wendy to move towards the magic mobile and the three girls went back into the cave. They ended up pulling out almost all of the undamaged furniture, a whole shelf full of books, and an ancient Fiore knights set of Armor. When Rio decided that was all that they would need, they pulled themselves out of the water and Erza shifted out of her Sea Empress Armor, more exhausted than she would like to admit from the strain of wearing the specific equipment for such a long time. Rio, who felt the strongest she had in days, loaded the furniture onto the trailer that Erza had the forethought to bring and offered to drive the first leg back to Magnolia. While their was more magic needed to power the vehicle than on the way there due to the extra weight, after a four hour salt water soak, Rio felt like she had unlimited power. They made it back to Magnolia just as the sun was about to dip behind the top of the guildhall. They drove up to Fairy Hills to drop off the trailer, then Erza, who hadn't driven the whole way back, offered to return the magic mobile. Rio gave her two jewels to pay for it, and Erza drove off, leaving the other three girls to decide something to do with all of the furniture. Rio knew what she had to do first. She went to the treasure chest and opened it to Wendy and Juvia.

"Please, take something for yourself," Rio told the other two girls. Juvia shook her head.

"Juvia will not take payment for helping a friend," she said. Rio smiled slightly with the realization that Juvia considered her a friend after only knowing her for one day. Wendy nodded in agreement with the older girl. Rio rolled her eyes. For such nice girls, they could be very thick.

"Not payment, just a gift. From a friend," she told them, gesturing to the chest again. It's not like she was planning on wearing any of it. They tentatively stepped towards the chest and looked inside. Juvia took out a silver and sapphire bangle and put it on her wrist, nodding approvingly. Wendy stuck her hand in blindly and pulled out a gold circlet with small jades dripping from it. Rio then closed the chest and looked back at the trailer full of furniture and knick knacks.

"Well obviously Erza grabbed the armor for herself, so we can take that up and take it to her room, but what about the rest? I don't think it will fit in my and Charles apartment," Wendy mused. Juvia nodded. Rio climbed into the trailer and picked up the suit of armor, passing it over the side of the trailer to Juvia. She looked at the rest of her belongings, noticing the shelf lying full of books.

"There was a girl, very peppy, liked books. Do you think she might want some of these?" Rio asked the other two girl. Wendy nodded a bunch and ran inside to find that girl, Levy, Rio thought her name was. While Wendy looked for her, Rio looked out over the town of Magnolia. She happened to spot someone with pink hair and the aroma of a campfire approaching the girls dorm.

"Hey Rio! Is that you! I found you a place to stay!" He called to her. He destroyed her first place, it was only right that he had spent all day finding her a new abode.

 **A/N: One day I will figure out how to actually end chapters. This was a good little insight to all of the random stuff Rio likes, like painting and tea sets. I hope you all liked it. As always, review with you questions(I am always excited to answer them), compliments, and criticism!**


	5. Girl's Day Out

**A/N: So this is to make up for missing last Thursday's update. I was out of town and couldn't post from my phone.**

 **It's time for some female bonding folks! I hope you're excited because I sure was/am! Enjoy!**

"It's perfect. Thank You," Rio said, trying not to betray how happy she was that Natsu had found her this cavern, he threw his arm around her shoulders in his own excitement. The cave, while not the size of her old home, was cosy and felt more like homey than Wendy's room at Fairy Hills. It was on a cliff approximately a 10 minute swim from the beach at Fairy Hills and a 20 minute swim from the guild.

"Me and Natsu spent all day looking at cliffs and trying to find you the perfect cave!" Happy said. The Exceeds had to airlift the two dragon slayers into the cave as their were no stairs leading down to it yet.

"There is still day left, so we can move some of the furniture down here and we can sleep here tonight!" Nila said happily. Natsu looked at her quizzically.

"I hadn't even thought about how you would get furniture down here," he asked the female dragon slayer. She waved her hand to tell him it wouldn't be a problem.

"I will work on some stairs. Would you mind bringing my belongings to the top of the cliff?" Rio asked him. He nodded and had Happy take him out of the cave. Rio stepped out to the cave mouth and looked to her left and right, trying to pick a side for her stairs. Deciding that the rock on the left looked softer, she got to work.

"Sea Dragon Sword!" Rio yelled, turning her left arm into a blade of stagnant water. She started high, cutting about three feet into the left side of the rock wall. She went about quickly cut through the rock face, building the staircase one step at a time. When she reached the top Natsu was standing there with Wendy and the trailer full of furniture. Wendy came over to the newly formed stairs with a look of awe on her face. Rio dropped the sword from her arm.

"Did you really just cut stairs?" she asked. Her level of disbelief mad etiology feel like this girl really had no scope of dragon slayer magical power.

"Yes I did. Now, can you help me carry some of this furniture down those stairs?" she asked of the younger girl.

An hour later all of the furniture had been moved into the cave. Wendy and Natsu bid her goodbye and hoped to see her at the guild hall tomorrow. Rio finished making the cave livable by inscribing the cave mouth with the spell to keep out water and unwanted guests and inscribing two tracks of lighting spells on the ceiling. She then arranged the furniture, tucking her bed into the back nook with her chest at the foot. She placed the loveseat and chairs around a coffee table towards the front of the cave and set her one salvaged tea set on the table.

She then changed out of her dress and into a pair of underpants and tank top. She climbed into bed and patted the spot where Nila could come and curl up. The Exceed obliged and the two drifted to sleep.

xxx-xxx-xxx

Rio climbed out of the water and magically removed the water from her outfit. She was wearing her white, above knee knee length halter dress with the gold collar and carrying a golden, gem encrusted purse. She looked more like a young rich girl out for a day of shopping than a guild wizard, but that didn't really matter to her. She approached the guild hall from the back, slipping in through the first door she saw, which led into the kitchens. She slipped around the chefs, heading towards the loudest part of the building.

She emerged behind the bar where Mirajane was serving breakfast to the hungry wizards gathered in front of her. She turned, not expecting anyone from the back, and gave Rio a smile.

"Don't you look pretty!" the takeover wizard told Rio as she herded the new girl out from behind the bar.

"Thank you MiraJane. I feel very flashy and was hoping to go shopping for some new clothes today. Do you know of any good places?" Rio asked the platinum blonde. Mira pointed at erza6, who was eating a plate of ten eggs at another table.

"I do, but if you really want to shop, Erza is the girl to take with you. She has been to every store in Magnolia," Mira directed her. Rio thanked her and went to sit next to the requip mage.

"I was told you like to shop," Rio stated, sliding close to the other woman on the bench seat. Erza nodded and swallowed her bite.

"I know what you are going to ask, and the answer is yes," the redhead said, looking over at Rio with an uncharacteristic smile, "I would love to go and help you pick out a whole wardrobe!"

Erza toke Rio to dozens of shops. The sea dragon slayer tried on clothes of every style. About two hours into their shopping adventure, Erza decided that the best look for Rio's model-esq figure would be jumpsuits.

"Jumpsuits?" Rio asked inquisitively, not really knowing what they were. Instead of telling her, the redhead dumped five of the things into Rio's arms. After trying them on and realizing that these 'jumpsuits' were very similar to wetsuits, Rio decided that she liked them.

After multiple hours of clothes shopping in which Rio dropped approximately 4 million jewel on three jumpsuits and a couple of dresses, Erza took Rio into a store she was not overly comfortable being in.

"I don't need any of these things," Rio said with a voice she was fighting to keep level, looking around at all the scraps of lace that were for sale in Miss Vista's Lingerie Lounge.

"I assure you, nothing boosts your confidence in battle like knowing that what is under your armor is just as attractive as the armor itself, or in your case, clothes," Erza told her, walking up to the attendant and telling her that Rio was looking for a comfortable yet sexy underwear set. The attendant had Rio follow her into the back room and begun to measure her.

While Rio was no stranger to people seeing her naked, this concept of wearing specific underclothes in order to be more appealing was foreign to her. She had read a lot of books about the culture of Fiore, but none had told her about this custom of having matching underwear. When the attendant had measured her, she went to get her some options for her to try on.

After trying on five or so sets and modelling them for Erza and the attendant, Rio left the store with two sets of underwear, one consisting of black lace briefs and a black lace pushup bra, the other a blue silk thong and lightly lined blue silk halter bra. The pair started heading back towards the guild, stopping at a patisserie to get a bit of sweets.

Erza ordered a slice of strawberry shortcake and Rio decided on having the same. When the slayer took her first bite, she felt like she had died and gone to heaven.

"This is the best thing I have ever tasted!" Rio said through a mouthful of cake, Erza smiled knowingly.

"I know. That's how I felt when I first had sweets. It's like it is relieving you of your problems, if only for a little," The redhead said. Rio raised her eyebrow.

"Where did you grow up that you didn't have sweets?" Rio asked incredulously. Erza then proceeded to tell Rio the abridged version of how she came to be at Fairy Tail. While the other mage taked, Rio realized that her and the other dragon slayers were not the only people who had lost things, and she wondered what the rest of her guildmates were holding onto.

When Erza had finished her tale and they had both finished their cake Rio ordered a box of macaroons to go to give to Nila to make up for the fact she didn't get to come shopping. Rio paid for both of them and they continued their way to the guild. Rio still had yet to actually respond to Erza's story. They stopped before entering the guildhall.

"Thank you, for doing this with me and for telling me your story. It gave me some..."Rio thought about what exactly she had gained from learning more about her guildmate, "perspective on who you are," she finished. Erza nodded.

"Anything for a friend,"

 **A/N: As everyone knows, the core principal of FT is friendship, so I want to get Rio in on some of that action. The next chapter will be less frufru, I promise. As always, I love to hear from you guys, so reveiw with questions, compliments, or criticisms!**


	6. D-D-D-D-Duel!

"Today is the day!" Natsu said, kicking open the door to the guild hall. Rio was sitting drinking coffee and eating toast at the bar with Nila, as she had been doing every morning since after her shopping excursion. She was wearing a blue and green floral jumpsuit with a plunging neckline paired with a thick gold choker and large gold stud earrings. She looked over towards Natsu and smirked.

"I guess it is. Let me finish eating and then we can go," She said. The still sleepy guild was staring at them. "Oh, I mean, I guess anyone who would like to challenge me is welcome to join us," she told the assembled mages. Some of them looked confused but Grey and Gajeel, who what just walked in, looked ready to rumble. Gajeel cracked his knuckles.

"This is just the fight I've been looking for," he said. Rio went back to her breakfast, finishing it quickly. She got up and stretched. She left the payment for her food on the bar and grabbed her bag to head out.

She walked with the three boys towards a clearing that Natsu had picked outside of town. They were jostling each other for who would fight her first, which was cute, but unnecessary. She had already decided that she would fight Grey first, since his battle would be toughest due to their similar elements. Rio still doubted that it would be that hard. After walking for about half an hour they reached the clearing Natsu had picked out. It was spacious and the trees surrounding it had enough leaves to cushion the fall of the boys who would inevitably be defeated by her.

Rio set down her bag on a large rock along with her jewelry and told Nila to guard it all. The earrings had to come out if she was taking this battle seriously. She cracked her neck and walked to the center of the clearing, gesturing to Grey to join her.

"You see this, she picked me because I'm her toughest opponent," he said, walking towards her and taking off his shirt.

"Or maybe I picked you because I needed a light warm-up," she retorted, smirking. She squared herself to him, showing that she was ready to start the battle. He grinned.

"Ice Make: Battle Axe!" He said, crafting himself a large axe that he swung towards Rio. She laughed and jumped, landing on the swinging axe and using it as a springboard to get closer to Grey.

"Please, you are going to have to be faster if you want to hit me," she said, leaping from the axe, "Sea Dragon's Claw!" she yelled, coming down towards Grey with her foot engulfed in water.

"Ice Make Shield!" he fired off just a second before it would have been too late. When Rio hit the Shield she bounced back, flipping midair to land on her feet ten feet away. He was better at that than she had expected.

"Sea Dragon's Roar!" she said, aiming the classic Dragon Slayer move at the ice mage. He jumped to dodge it and fired off an attack of his own.

"Ice Make Lance!" he shouted, sending multiple spears of ice in her direction.

"Sea Dragon's Bubble!" she commanded, sheltering herself in a bubble of super-dense water that effectively captured the lances. She reached and grabbed one of the suspended spears, bringing it to her mouth and biting it, much to the surprise of Grey.

"Is she eating my ice?" he asked the dragon slayers. They nodded solemnly, as if there was now on chance he could win. She ate all the spears from inside her little bubble of safety before dropping it.

"Thank you, that was very refreshing," she told her opponent with a smile. Grey looked angry.

"I'll show you refreshing! Ice Make: Ice Hammer!" he let the attack out, creating a large spiked hammer to appear above Rio's head, she glanced up and shrugged.

"Sea Dragon's Secret Art: Tsunami: Crashing Tides." She said. In that moment, a large wave grew behind her, catching the hammer as it passed over and around her. The wave pushed forwards towards Grey, knocking him down hard when it made contact. As he opened his eyes after the first wave, he was met by a second, and then a third attack. After the fifth wave, he was out cold. Rio fell to her knees and Nila over to her.

"Rio! Are you alright! You've never done something that big away from a water source!" the Exceed asked, putting her paw on the slayer's back. Rio shook her head.

"That was my worst idea all week," Rio said with a chuckle. Then she passed out.

xxx-xxx-xxx

When Rio came to there were at least five concerned faces looking over her, maybe more. It was hard to tell with blurry vision and the world's most splitting headache. When her eyes cracked open their was a collective sigh.

"I told you she would be fine," Nila said calmly, even though her fur was wet with tears. Charlie patted the smaller cat on the back.

"Did I wake up before Grey," were the first word out of Rio's mouth, causing a laugh from the assembled Fairy Tail wizards. The menagerie consisted of Gajeel, Natsu, Wendy, Cana, and Levy, who was measuring Rio's vitals.

"Yeah you did! He is still out cold!" Natsu shouted, punching the air.

"That was some move you did, generating a lot of physical substance from magical energy. Definitely more than I have ever seen Gajeel manifest," Charle stated. Gajeel glared at the Exceed.

"Iron is a lot harder to generate than water," He told her. Rio coughed, bringing the attention back to her,"

"Sorry if I worried anyone. That was my first fight out of my element and I over stepped my bounds. It won't happen again," she told them, Natsu blinked and then smiled.

"It better happen again because you still owe me a fight, and I don't expect anything less than the treatment you gave the Ice Queen," the pinkette said. Rio smirked.

"Well, then I guess I better rest up for tomorrow,"

xxx-xxx-xxx

"This is boring!" Natsu groaned, walking back towards Rio. She shrugged.

"It's really just a waste of magic," she replied.

"Let's try this again. Fire Dragon's" Natsu started. At the same instant, Rio started an attack of her own.

"Sea Dragon's"

"Iron Fist!" the two dragon slayers said in unison. The two fists collided, one cloaked in fire and the other in water. When the resulting steam cleared, their were just two fists bumping against each other. Natsu groaned and sat down, head between his knees.

"This is so lame," he said. She nodded, sitting down so that they were back to back.

"You're telling me. The whole damn guild came out to see us duel and all we get is steam!" Rio said, exasperatedly gesturing to the gaggle of onlookers.

"What do we do now?" Natsu asked, not sure what the procedure was for a stalemate, seeing as he had never been in one.

"We go home I guess,"


	7. Nightlife

**A/N: Enjoy!**

"Nila, why do I feel like I lost?" Rio asked her Exceed, her voice muffled by the pillows on her bed. Nila, who was reading a book she had borrowed from Levy, shrugged.

"Probably because you lack a sense of fulfillment in your life," Said the pink creature Rio looked over to the animal with a raised eyebrow.

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, even though you have started to learn more about your guildmates, you have yet to establish stronger relationships with any of them, regardless of their efforts. You have also been here for two weeks and haven't done anything except swimming and shopping." The Exceed told her friend. Rio groaned.

"That's what I always do! Why isn't it good enough anymore!" Rio questioned the cat, who, as a 15 years old, probably shouldn't have the answers to a grown woman's existential questions.

"Because now you know that their are better things you could be doing. Go to the guild, make connections, take a job." the small cat said, finally looking up from whatever engrossing novel she was reading. The two females stared at each other until eventually Rio caved, heaving a sigh. She rolled off her bed and stood up, stretching.

"Fine, fine. I'll hang out, get a job, and we can leave in the morning. Does that sound good?" The Dragon Slayer asked her pet. Nila nodded, satisfied, and went back to her book. Rio brushed her hair, threw on a simple blue dress, and headed towards the stairs.

When she got to the guildhall, the evening was in full swing. She walked through the the open front door and into the chaotic environment within.

"Hey Rio, it's about time you joined the party!" Came a drunken voice from across the room. Rio walked over to where Cana was sitting with a barrel of alcohol and three guys Rio could have sworn she had never seen before.

"Hello Cana," Rio said, shoeing one of men away so that she could sit next to the drunk brunette. Cana passed Rio a glass full of something brown and fizzy. Rio looked at it like it was poisonous. Cana rolled her eyes.

"It's just beer, lighten up! It won't kill you!" The brunette yelled. Rio shrugged, knowing that there was a first time for everything, and downed the glass. This earned her a cheer from Cana.

"That tasted disgusting," The sea dragon slayer coughed. Cana looked at her sassily.

"You want something that tastes good?" the card mage asked. Rio nodded, "Mira, can you get Rio 'something that tastes good'?" The brunette asked with air quotes.

"Of course," said the cheery blonde. When the drink showed up, Rio drank a third of it instantly. She would have downed it, but Cana stopped her.

"Careful with that, you probably don't have much experience drinking and we wouldn't want you to die from your second drink," the brunette laughed. She seemed kinda excited to be teaching the new girl the ways of the bar. Rio, who was, as Cana guessed, new to drinking, was starting to feel something.

"Do you drink to fill a void in your heart left by a parent?" Rio asked, coming out of left field. _I guess I get inquisitive when I'm drunk,_ the dragon slayer thought. Cana stared at her dumbfounded and laughed.

"I don't think so, but I'm too drunk to care," the next hour or so was spent with Rio looking into the souls of nearby mages and telling them their deepest insecurity, which was a good laugh until she got to you. After she had done everyone in the near vicinity, the scene changed. Laxus walked in, sans Thunder Legion, and took a seat at the bar, inspiring Cana.

"Riri!" she said, using the nickname for Rio that she had just come up with and tapping the drunk girl on the shoulder. The girl turned to Cana with a smile. "Laxus, the dragon slayer you haven't met yet just walked in! He's at the bar you should go say hi!" she instructed. Rio smiled.

"That sounds great!" the girl said, pushing herself into a standing position, "I can't wait to chat with him!" Rio sauntered over to the lightning dragon slayer and leaned against the bar beside him. He looked at her, saw her guild emblem and looked away.

"When did they let you in?" he said, picking up the whiskey that Mira had just put down.

"About two weeks ago. I'm Rio, if you cared," she said, turning to not-look at him the same way he was not-looking at her.

"I don't," he said, drinking the whiskey in one gulp. He put down the glass and Mira instantly whisked it away. Rio rolled her eyes.

"Are you being abrasive because your lack of mother figure caused your manners to be stunted?" She spilled out. He turned slightly to give her a pointed glare. She shrugged.

"You were probably just socialized in a hyper-masculine environment in which not responding to people is considered a sign of dominance. Are you trying to prove that you are the dominant dragon slayer here?" she asked, sipping the whiskey that Mira had put down for Laxus. If you looked close enough you could see Laxus struggling to contain his anger.

"I didn't even know you were a slayer, so how could I be trying to prove that?" Laxus said through gritted teeth. This girl, this Rio chic, was pressing every single button he had.

"Or maybe you just feel like nothing you ever do is good enough, so why bother starting a conversation that will just turn out terribly," the sea dragon slayer mused, ignoring his question. Laxus drank the third whiskey Mira poured and faced her. He shoved his finger in her face to make a point.

"This conversation is going terribly alright, but it's sure as hell not my fault!" he shouted at her. Rio laughed and looked over at Mira frowning when she saw the three empty whiskey glasses.

"He didn't pay for those did he?" Mira shook her head. Rio dug into her purse and payed for both her and the lightning dragon slayer's drinks. She then curtsied to the barmaid and stumbled out of the guildhall and all the way back to the cliff where she swore her cave was. Not knowing where it was, and thinking that maybe she could see it from the water, she swan dived into the sea.

 **A/N: She is probably fine...**

 **Questions, comments, compliments, and criticisms are always welcome!**


	8. The Job

**A/N: Alright! It is time for an actual story arc! Enjoy!**

"I wish I was dead," Rio groaned, waking up with her first ever hangover. Nila was rubbing the slayers back and making shhh sounds.

"I pulled you out of the water after you jumped in last night. It's a good thing I heard you hit, otherwise you would have floated halfway to Crocus by now," the Exceed said with a laugh. "Even drenched in water, you still reeked of alcohol, so I took of your dress and dropped you in bed," the Exceed explained.

Rio reached blindly for the water bottle that she kept beside her bed. When she grabbed it she messing squirted the liquid into her mouth, half inhaling and half drinking it. After finishing off the bottle and asking Nila to get her another one, she finally felt alive enough to sit up. When she did, she glanced at her grandfather clock to see that it was already 10 am.

After pulling herself together, explaining to Nila that she hadn't picked a job before getting smashed and she could barely remember anything after calling out Cana's daddy issues she and her Exceed headed towards the guild. When she stepped inside, every gaze turned to her. She stopped, not knowing entirely why everyone was staring at her.

Then Cana, who was up surprisingly early yelled "That's ma girl!" and everyone laughed. A couple people stilled glared at her, and one or two came up to her and told her that she told them exactly what they had needed to hear, but all in all it was back to a regular morning at the guild hall. Rio asked Kinana make her regular as she sat down at the bar. After a few minutes with talking to the the waitress about how she had spent last night, someone kinda familiar sat down beside the sea dragon slayer. Laxus. It all came back to her. She had been so rude last night. She and been out of her right mind and she had way way way stepped out of line. Especially with Laxus.

"Hey so about last night," he started, she gulped, afraid that this guy she literally didn't know at all was angry at her. "I'm sorry. You were drunk and I lost my temper and you paid for my drinks and I feel like a real asshole," he said. That is not where Rio thought that was going at all. Kinana put the sea dragon slayer's breakfast down in front of her.

"Oh it's fine. I was actually going to apologize to you for what I said. I guess we were both in the wrong on this one," Rio told him, drinking her coffee. Now caffeine, that was what would cure her hangover. He shrugged.

"Yeah, I guess. Actually, what you said was pretty close to the truth and I-" Rio cut him off.

"Please, I barely even remember last night. What I do remember does not paint me in a flattering light. Would you mind if we start over?" Rio asked, wondering why it seemed so easy to talk to this guy who was known for being unfriendly. Maybe it was because he didn't have the same chaotic energy as everyone else. Maybe it was that he had the same mystery about him that she hoped to put out about herself.

"You can't just start over, life's not like that, I should know," He said, scratching the back of his neck. Rio just stared at him, blinking dumbly. He sighed. "What I'm trying to say is that I feel the need to repay you, even if that is stupid, and would like to take you out for your first job," He told her. Rio pursed her lips, not sure how to respond to his offer. Luckily, Nila was around.

"She would love to! Taking a job is the whole reason she is here and not nursing her hangover back home!" The cat said. Rio looked over at her friend.

"I'm not just going to accept a job I know nothing about, but I did come in to take a job, so why don't you tell me more about it.

Laxus explained that, every year, he took a job, alone, at an island off the northern coast of Fiore to help them with their seasonal lightning storms. Normally, they have a magical barrier to keep the tides at bay, but something happened to it last winter and the village leader asked if he could bring a water mage with him when he came. It pays pretty well and the job isn't that difficult, so it is like a vacation for him. After he wrapped up the job description, Rio shrugged and gave the Lightning mage a one-sided smile.

"Sounds like the best job possible. I'd love to go. What should I bring and when do we leave?"

xxx-xxx-xxx

At around two o'clock, Rio returned to the guild with Nila and a large rolling suitcase filled with a few outfits and the books on non-slayer water magic Marianna had given her. She was dressed in a short backless halter dress patterned with tropical leaves and a pair of white sandals. Laxus was waiting outside the front doors of the guild hall in his normal outfit with a large bag slung over his shoulder. He straightened, giving Rio a long look as she approached.

"So how do we get to this island?" She asked him as they started walking towards the train station.

"We take the train to Hargeon, then this weird old man uses some sort of magic to transport us to the northern coast where they villagers have a boat waiting to take us to their island," Laxus told her. She nodded, considering how teleportation magic worked.

Marianna had told her about all the other magical disciplines, but she didn't really have a grasp, on how they worked. That was one of the things she had been doing for these first few weeks at the guild, trying to understand how certain magical specialties worked. Takeover magic has to do with absorption of foreign particles to be called upon at a later date, while requip magic was basically like using magic to pull items from a pocket dimension. As far a Rio could tell, requip magic was actually reasonably easy to learn. What made Erza impressive was her collection of amour and her ability to wield it so adeptly. Teleportation magic was probably similar to requip magic in some way.

"If my other job hadn't taken so long we wouldn't have had to take the train," Laxus said as an explanation or maybe an apology as they took their tickets and headed to the platform. Rio shrugged.

"It doesn't matter to me, I don't get motion sick," she told him. He rolled his eyes.

"Of course you don't. You come out of nowhere able to fight like hell and look like he-" he stopped himself, realizing what he was about to say, "well, you know, and you are the only dragon slayer in Earthland without motion sickness," He said as they loaded their bags into the overhead compartment. She shook her head.

"It's not that I don't have the dragon slayer motion sickness curse, it's just that I understand it enough to work around it," she told him, sitting down. He quirked an eyebrow as he dropped into the seat facing her. "Motion sickness is caused by an imbalance in the inner ear, so if I stop up my ears with high-density water, I won't get sick" she elaborated. He nodded, looking impressed.

"Would you be able to help me with that too?" He asked. She nodded.

"Yeah, it's not that far to Hargeon, so I think I can do it without using too much magical energy,"

Then the train started moving and Rio quickly plugged her and her teammate's ears so that they could survive the ride in comfortable silence.

 **A/N: So this is the beginning of the only story arc I have plotted out so far. Depending on the reception I might keep it going, but IDK. I love to hear from you guys so please share with me your questions, compliment, or criticisms!**


	9. Teleportation and Culture

**A/N: This is most on-schedule I have ever been in my life, but I'm nearing the end of my buffer chapters, so I hope it can last.**

"So why didn't you take Juvia on this job? She has been your guildmate for longer, and her magic is more general use than mine," Rio asked as they lugged their bags off the now stopped train. She had been pondering the question and how to word it for a good bit of the train ride. It just didn't make sense to take a dragon slayer on a mission that was not directly related to combat. Slayer magic was inherently destructive, and even though Rio had studied a few books on non-slayer water magic, Juvia would have been a more obvious choice for this mission. Laxus shrugged.

"I was planning on asking for her help, but after you left the guild last night I went back to pay for my drinks. Mira told me that you had already paid for me and suggested I take you on this job to repay you," He told her, not looking in her direction. They walked for a few minutes in silence, side by side. Laxus directed them through the the winding streets of the port city of Hargeon to a small building made of mismatched brick sandwiched between two much larger stone buildings. This, at least to Rio, seemed like the point of no return.

"Thank you, Laxus," she said, giving the lightning mage a small smile. He looked at her, surprised to be thanked for something that he considered to be no big deal. When he saw how genuinely thankful she was, he looked away, cheeks slightly pink.

"It's nothing. Just a job," He forced. Stepping toward the small building and knocking on the door. It was flung open by a small old man on the other side. He gestured for them to come in and they did. He shut the door behind him. The room was surprisingly bright for the lack of windows.

"Oh, you found a water wizard to help you I see. She looks very... strong," The man said, moving between the pair of Fairy Tail wizards to stand in front of them. Rio nodded, indicating that his assessment of her was accurate.

"Miss, has Laxus told you anything about how you will be getting to the northern coast?" the old man asked Rio. She shrugged.

"He told me it was a form of teleportation magic. Also, my name is Rio," she replied with a smile. She had many theories about how it might work, and was mildly excited to see which was true. The old man smiled.

"Yes. It is known as Memory Movement. It allows me to send someone back to a location they can remember clearly in their mind," he told them. Laxus already knew this, but to Rio it was a weird concept. It didn't really fit any of her theories and didn't seem to have a clear cut way of working. Oh well. The man continued, still addressing Rio. "Since you have never been to the location I will be sending you to, for this to work, you will have to be in physical contact with Laxus. You will also want to keep a tight grip on your suitcase." Rio did as he said, adjusting her grip on the handle of her bag. She reached towards Laxus and placed her manicured hand in his calloused and strong one. Now ready to go she looked back at the man for further instructions.

"Now close your eyes," they did as he said. "And enjoy the trip!"

xxx-xxx-xxx

Rio vomited. The second the man stopped talking, the ground under her feet shifted and she felt like her entire digestive system was about to come spewing out of her mouth. Luckily, the only things that came out were the contents of her stomach. Laxus was not much better off, kneeling on the Sandy shore and breathing heavily. From a short distance away there was a laugh. The two Dragon Slayers looked over, pale faced at the newcomer. It was a young man, probably about Laxus' age, with tanned skin, light brown hair, and glass green eyes. He was leaning against a post with a boat tied to it.

"This never get old," he said. Laxus recovered enough to raise a middle finger in the man's direction. He laughed again and walked over to them. He grabbed Laxus' outstretched hand and pulled the larger man to his feet. After steadying the blonde, he walked over to Rio, who had stopped puking and straightened up to try to regain some composure. He held out a hand to her.

"Hey, you must be the newest Dragon Slayer. I'm Caspian," He said. Rio shook his hand tentatively.

"Yes. My name is Rio, the Sea Dragon Slayer. How do you know about me?" the dragon slayer said. She turned to check on her bag before looked back for a reply. He was digging into his messenger bag for something. When he found it, he pulled it off and passed it to Rio. It was the latest issue of Sorcerer Weekly.

"Look at page 17!" He said. Rio flipped to the page he indicated and saw three low-quality photographs of her under the headline 'Hot New Wizards'. One was of her out shopping with Erza, another was of her before her fight with Natsu, and the final one was from last night, with her sitting next to Laxus at the bar. Rio, who thought she was pretty observant, was shocked that people had managed to get these photos when she had been keeping such a low profile. She looked at the article.

 _RIO / Magic: Sea Dragon Slayer / Affiliation: Fairy Tail / Height: 177cm / Hair: Purple / Eyes: Blue / Dress Size: 6 (tall)/ This week's up-and-coming mage is none other than the reclusive Dragon Slayer, Rio. She joined the Fairy Tail guild almost a month ago and has been keeping one of the lowest profiles of any Fairy Tail mage ever. She lives in a cave just south of the main residence for female Fairies, Fairy Hills. She has a regal allure lacked by many of the other Fairy Tail females. Her specific aura has been compared to that of Sabertooth's leading lady Minerva. / But this girl is not just a pretty face! She has bested many of Fairy Tail's leading men in one on one combat. Notable victories include a quick win against Grey Fullbuster and a more drawn out battle against Gajeel Redfox. Notable mentions include her steamy draw against Natsu Dragneel and 6 hour duel with Erza Scarlet, which she eventually lost. / Keep your eyes open for this girl, as we think she has potential to be one of this year's Top Ten New Wizards!_

Rio closed the magazine and passed it back to Caspian. She felt both flattered and slightly violated. But mostly flattered. Caspian tucked the magazine back into his bag.

"Can we get going?" Laxus called from the boat, which was slowly being lapped at by the approaching tide. Caspian gestured for her to go to the boat and she obliged, dragging her suitcase through the sand and hauling it into the boat. She put her bag next to Laxus' and sat down beside her partner.

 **A/N: So my current outline tells me that, with this chapter, we are halfway through the story! I might add another arc or two after I wrap up this one, but as of right now, this is looking like it will probably be 17-20 chapters! As always, I live off of feedback and every review is near and dear to my heart, so please comment, question, and criticize!**


	10. Opening Night

Rio could see the island as they approached it. She could have been their an hour ago if she didn't feel like it would be rude to make Laxus deal with his motion sickness on his own. So, in the spirit of shared misfortune, she stuck out the grueling three hour boat ride to the island of Tradoa.

When they were less than a mile off shore she could see people lined up all along the coast. Some were dancing, some were playing instruments, and some were waving flags. They were all dressed in bright colors and seemed to be having a good time.

As the boat pulled up to the dock, three older people stepped out of the crowd to meet the visiting mages. Caspian stepped out of the boat in order to help Rio and Laxus, who regardless of Rio's magic were still slightly woozy, get safely onto the dock. When the mages and their luggage were out of the boat, Laxus stepped towards what Rio assumed to be the tribal elders. The woman of the trio held out her hand and Laxus kissed it. From what Rio had heard about the lightning dragon slayer, this display means he respects the woman immensely.

"Amalie, this is Rio. She is going to help you get the tidal barriers back in working shape," Laxus said, gesturing to his companion. Rio curtsied towards the woman.

"Happy to help," Rio added to her gesture. The woman stepped towards the sea dragon slayer to get a closer look at her. Her eyes scanned her body, spending more than a second on Rio's guild mark before moving on. When she was finished she looked Rio in the eye and smiled before stepping back.

"Well, it is lovely to meet you. I am Amalie, the matriarch of the island. Now that you are here, we can start the festivities!" the old woman said, clapping her hands together. Suddenly the islanders gathered behind her surged forward. Rio felt herself being surrounded and then lifted by six women. They carried her above their heads towards a hut on the shore. To her left, she could see Laxus being carried by six men almost as big as he was towards a different hut.

When they got into the hut she was set down.

"Miss Rio, would you disrobe?" Asked a short, motherly looking woman. Rio, who had no problem being naked in front of strangers obliged. When she was fully undressed a different woman wrapped a soft robe around her.

"Will I be getting that outfit back? I quite like it," Rio asked as she sat down in a provided armchair. The women who carried her in appeared again to begin taming her nails and massaging her hands and feet.

"Of course. It will be taken to your lodgings along with the rest of your belongings. My name is Ganja, you and Laxus will be living next door to my family for the duration of your stay," the motherly woman told her. Rio nodded and began to relax. She spent the next hour being asked if she cared for her hair to be washed or if she wanted to have red or gold nail polish. The answers were no and gold.

When she was done being groomed, the women brought out a red wrap dress with gold stitching. They helped her into it and added bangles and other jewelry to add to the reality of her appearance. When they decided that she was ready, they lead her towards a different door than the one she came in. Overall, it was by far the best treatment Rio had ever experienced.

On the other side of the door was Laxus, sitting in a palkhi, and six men standing by, presumably to carry him. The woman gestured toward the palkhi to signify that she should join her guildmate. Rio obliged. Discreetly, she blocked her and Laxus' ears before they could start moving, just in case this made them sick.

In the process she gave him a once over. He was wearing loose pants in the same fabric as her dress and large golden collar over his bare torso. When she turned to look forward she could still see the toned muscles that made a V towards his waistband.

They were carried forward. Laxus reached over and laid his hand on hers. She looked over at him for explanation, but he was staring forward intently. Rio could feel the drum beats and loud music playing ahead in her bones. They moved through a parting crowd and we're placed down behind a table ladened with food Rio had never seen before. It looked delectable. Her and Laxus were helped out of the palkhi and sat at the center of the long table. When they had been seated, most of the crowd moved to sit at one of the many tables set up in front of theirs.

Suddenly the music stopped. Amalie stood up from her position to the left of Rio and cleared her throat.

"Welcome, everyone, to the calm before the storm. We are gathered here to celebrate the prosperity of the past year and to ask to Gods to grant us safety through the storm season. I, as head of the village, dedicate this meal to Tempestia, goddess of the storm," The matriarch stated, gesturing to all the food on the tables before her.

"May she be merciful!" said everyone except Amalie and Rio, who didn't know that was coming. When the mass had quieted. Amalie spoke again.

"Now, we feast!"

xxx-xxx-xxx

Laxus warned her not to eat to much, because it would make it hard to dance, but Rio stuffed herself anyway. She made sure not to drink too much though, not wanting to offend people on her first night. Laxus had no such reservations however.

At around five drinks he got up to join Rio and the locals in dancing. He was terrible at it. Everyone else was dancing with a rhythm that Laxus just didn't have. Eventually he sat back down. Rio sat down in her chair beside him when she got a stitch in her side.

"I told you it was like a vacation," Laxus said, leaning towards her. She shrugged.

"I suppose. I never worked before, so my whole life has sort of been a vacation, but this is much less lonely than that," Rio admitted. She saw Laxus turn to look at her out of the corner of her eye.

"I get that. I was out of the guild for a bit and it wasn't the same at this," he told her, finishing a cocktail. Now that was something Rio didn't know. Laxus, the master's grandson, had been out of the guild. Not something she would have suspected, but it didn't really surprise her after seeing how abrasive his personality could be.

"You are incredibly sexy," he said, mouth suddenly very close to her ear. That surprised her. She leaned away and turned to look at him. He was definitely drunk. Rio reached out a hand to grab his face forcefully.

"Saying things like that will make it hard to work with you, so keep it to yourself," She told him, releasing his face on the last syllable. She stood up and stalked away from her guildmate, looking for someone who could tell her where she could get some rest.


	11. Hiatus Announcement

Hey guys! Thank you guys for being so patient with me. I have some bad news. I'm putting this story on hiatus. I have really lost steam on this fic and don't really have any inspiration to keep it going. I hope to pick it back up later, but can't promise when that will be.

Thank You so much for supporting me and this work with your reviews and follows and favorites. I hope to see you again!


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